Buona sera prof, io sono stata solo a New York 30 anni fa, quando gli Usa erano il sogno italiano. Sono tornata profondamente turbata, ero molto giovane, ma, gia allora avevo capito che non si stava cosi bene laggiu e che le cose non erano proprio come le immaginavamo. Ora, vedendo tanti canali TH-cam americani e italiani che parlano degli Usa, mi sto rendendo sempre piu conto del sogno infranto della mia generazione e di quanto poco sappiamo di quel paese. Non oso immaginare cosa devono aver provato gli immigrati . Grazie per la sua opera di divulgazione. Sto iniziando a comprendere meglio un altro paese e un altra cultura.
The most desirable areas to live were always toward the center of the city or within city limits until the 1960s when government subsidized housing (section 8) re-settled residents from other states to areas where a car is less needed: close to the city centers. You can see @8:47 are the enormous homes where commonly 3 generations of European descended families lived in during the first half of the 20th century. Americans too have a social need to be near their neighbors, stores, trains, & schools but the re-settlement program lead to the residents taking their wealth to the suburbs and beyond where you have to drive to get a pack of gum. Soldiers returning form WWII bought houses in the newly created suburbs simply because they weren't wealthy enough to purchase a home closer to the conveniences of the city. My mother never had any intention of driving a car until our father moved us to the suburbs.
This is very interesting. Thank you so much. I was aware of the fact that, originally, those neighborhoods in Detroit that i show in the video were for affluent video who worked in the Automotive industry. And now the situation is very different.
From Lombardy, excellent as always. I wanted to mention a similarity between rural America and Italy that is not widely known. The US road grid system is inspired by Roman Centuriation. I worked for some time in “Upstate NY” and had to drive to work using this grid system, which was easy because it is so regular. Where I live in Bergamo province, as in other parts of Italy, there are still extensive remains of the Ancient Roman Centuriation system, and in many ways it is similar to that I used in the US. See the Wikipedia articles on Centuriation in English and Italian (to which I contributed with a photo I took with my green Opel Agila car of a dead straight road near where I live ;-) ). Second point: Hispanics. In Upstate NY, I had a Mexican colleague of European origin who, many years later invited me and my family to spend a few months with her and her Cuban husband in South-East Florida. My wife is Spanish from Galicia in the North-West and she has blonde hair and blue eyes, so she is not stereotypically Spanish, like Penelope Cruz, just as our Mexican friend, also blonde with blue eyes, is not stereotypically Mexican. I must say that for most of the three months we spoke more Spanish than English, particularly in the Calle Ocho district of Miami. Also, as Cuba was Spanish until 1898, my wife was able to establish contact easily with the Cubans, as many of them have close Spanish relatives, even from Galicia (like the Castro family). I also went to an “Italian” restaurant in Florida, but the least said the better, starting from “carbonara” with cream, etc. 😉
You absolutely right about the fact that the Centuriation System in the US is inspired by rthe roman system in fact, if you see the ruins of ancient Roman cities, the they are all squared.
Great video! As an American living in Italy much of what you've said rings true to what Italians ask me about America. BTW, they updated the US 2020 census and now English is the highest self-reported European ancestry in America with about 46 million and then German and Irish coming in 2nd and 3rd. In 1980 it was around 49 million and later ones it dropped for various reasons and went as low as 26 million if I remember correctly but it was always considered a severe under-count. One reason is possibly because they included American as an ethnicity in the 1990's and those who previously reported English switched to American.
You are definitely correct about Italian people's knowledge of geography. I moved here from the USA and the first thing people usually ask me is which state? And when I say North Carolina, most people just say, "boh, I don't know that one." Lol. I also lived in five other states and most people don't know any of them either, except of course, California.
there’s a misconception about American cities- it has changed in recent years- in the most affluent older American cities, like New York, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, central neighborhoods are the most affluent- similar to European cities. In younger cities that were built around the automobile, affluent residential areas are outside the business core. Los Angeles is a bit of an exception- because it’s really a large collection of smaller cities. Younger generations are much more interested in living in cities, where their parents and grandparents wanted to live in leafy suburbs.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 no, not gentrification, a reversal of the subsidized emptying of our urban cores under the guise of urban renewal and subsidized mortgages for new houses in auto dependent suburbs.
@@alanboucek I never went west of Niagara Falls, so I have no first-hand knowledge of California, where my Mexican ex-colleague now lives in Marin County, so maybe someday I will see San Francisco. ;-) As far as I know, the cities founded by the Spanish Franciscans were built around missions, mostly with Saints' names, from San Diego to San Francisco, right? In Spanish America, instead, many cities were built like the cities of the Ancient Romans, a model with which they were familiar with in Spain itself and which is also frequent, as Prof. Luca said, also in Italy. So, you have a central square with the largest church and the largest civil administration building and the palaces of leading families. Examples: The original colonial plans of Bogotá, Quito, Lima, Mexico and Buenos Aires. Another curious personal experience, the plan of the old part of the city where I live, Treviglio (Tres Villae), in Lombardy, is almost identical to that of Airx-en -Provence (Aquae Sextiae), so when I went there with my family we agreed on meeting places saying things like: "We''ll meet at 5 o'clock in the location of Raffi's father's barber shop", on the "circonvallazione interna" (internal ring road). ;-)
Buona sera, professore. Generally, you are correct about the suburbs in America. Starting in the 1960's, violent crime became a concern in the large cities. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April of 1968, there was a lot of violence in the large cities that pushed many white folks to move to the suburbs. There, they could own a larger home with a backyard, but the move to the suburbs was also very much motivated by a concern for safety. I think your students would be surprised to learn that the public square (piazza) is rare in the U.S. In most towns or cities, there isn't a piazza where people go to meet up with friends. There is also no tradition of the passeggiata (walking for social reasons before and after a meal) here. People definitely walk a lot more in New York City because owning a car isn't practical there, but Americans are not as social as Italians (in Italy), in my opinion, and part of the reason for that is because so many towns and cities in America are designed strictly for the automobile. I grew up in the Washington, D.C. area which includes several counties in Maryland and Virginia that border the District of Columbia. Italians might be surprised to learn that far more people live in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs of D.C. than in D.C. itself. I used to commute into D.C. from Virginia via a train every day, and it took me more than an hour each way. Lastly, I was corresponding once with an employee of the Italian law firm that is helping me to get Italian citizenship, and she told me that she watches very little Italian TV or movies. She said she thought American movies and TV were much better. That made me laugh because some American films and shows are very good, but there are also a lot that are bad. I am currently watching a lot of Italian TV and movies to help me learn the language. Among my favorites, so far, are Mare Fuori (The Sea Beyond), L'amica geniale (My Brilliant Friend), and Don Matteo. Don't laugh. I know those shows could not be more distinct, but I've enjoyed all of them. Don Matteo reminds me of a lot of American TV shows from the '70's and '80's. I know it debuted about 25 years ago, but it must have been popular because it ran for 13 seasons. I would be curious to hear about your favorite American movies and TV shows. Grazie, e buon fine settimana.
Io ricordo che da bambina mi piacevano I Jefferson, Arnold, poi I Robinson, Will il principe di Bel Air, Remington Steele, Mac Gyver, Giudice di notte, Sledge Hammer, Friends, Buffy l'ammazzavampiri, ... Le mamme nei primi anni '80 erano appassionate di Dallas (ammiravano soprattutto i vestiti). 😂
@@danilacld3448 MacGyver was also one of my favorite series from the 1980s! One of the things that makes me sad about American TV today is how few situation comedies (sitcoms) are being made today compared to the past. There used to be so many, and now there are so few. I'm also not sure why this genre has completely disappeared from American TV. The Jeffersons was a spinoff of All in the Family (another great series). The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was where we were first introduced to actor Will Smith. When you said "The Night Judge," I think you were referring to "Night Court," and Friends was very popular during the '90s. Seinfeld and the Big Bang Theory are two of my all-time favorite sitcoms, and Breaking Bad is probably the greatest drama TV series of all time (for me). Many people put the Sopranos near the top of the list for best series, but I thought Breaking Bad was even better.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 No one knows The Sopranos in Italy?! Incredible. No other TV show in the US for the last 30 years has had the cultural impact that The Sopranos did. Maybe The Simpsons comes close, but still.
Just a note that in Britain we distinguish between city centre living which is wildly expensive and inner city areas which are poor and run down. Would that be the case in America as well?
Yes, in US it is similar. In San Francisco, it is all about the neighborhood. City Center here would mean the area on Van Ness Avenue where there is City Hall, the Symphony, Opera, Asian Art Museum, and so forth. And it abuts the Tenderloin, which would be considered Inner City. I remember meeting an Italian visitor and I wondered why he chose to stay in such a sketchy part of the city (near City Center and ghettos). I was just asking a friend’s husband about where to stay in Naples, Italy and he told me City Center, and my first reaction is “OK, City Center, huh, let me research this” cuz it is backwards!
@@HowtoItaly-2004Layout is different, but characteristics are similar with the different phases or American socio-economic/political life. Not a great time for US cities right now. A lot of vacant office buildings, many shops and restaurants have closed. CA always seems to have a lot of boom and bust cycles. If you want a fascinating bit of West Coast history, look into the Rosie the Riverter era here in the SF Bay. Women, African Americans, and other minorities were attracted with good pay and opportunities to build the Liberty Ships of WW2.
I am an American and I disagree with some of the comments here, especially the overtly political ones that express an incomplete and biased view of certain political figures. If the point is that Italian impressions are often wrong, there are better examples than opinions of our politicians, but the US has become quite politicized by some, esp those who favor large and powerful government. Most people in most countries understand their own countries very little, let alone other countries. Still good to try and I enjoy the content here.
Dear Professor Coniglio, The great physicist Enrico Fermi is celebrated in the US as an important member of the Manhattan Project as well as for his discoveries in nuclear physics. And obviously the FermiLab has been named in his honor. People in the US who might be interested in science know his importance as an Italian Immigrant who escaped from the Nazis to the US and become a US citizen. I am curious about how Italians regard him. Is he claimed as an Italian or someone who relinquished his citizenship? Id be interested in your thoughts. Thank you. Joseph.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 thank you for your quick response. Too bad Italian students aren’t taught the importance of men like Fermi. Please take care and have a wonderful day.
When I was in college, many of the exchange students I knew would buy used cars so they could travel around the US for the summer after their school year in an American university. I thought this was a great idea. These smart ones knew that the big cities were not where culture originates, it is where it coalesces. The heart of a nation is revealed in nuanced ways in small towns and medium sized cities. The only way to really engage in understanding that is to go there and be there. That is why when I bring my family to Italy in the near future, we are not going to focus on the big Italian cities. I want them to experience the villages and "smaller" cities like Bari. It will be completely alien territory to us. We only know Italy by the big cities like Rome and Florence. That's what I want to avoid. On the topic of Westerns and Spaghetti Westerns, as a Italian-American who is also a Texan, I find those stereotypes so funny. It is so far from the truth of the current Texan experience of living here. But one thing is true -- we are inspired by scale and size. We have the room to do things like convert a cattle ranch into a giraffe refuge (there are many here). That's the kind of thing that I think visiting Italians would be stunned by, among many other things. The Italian immigrant experience in Texas is also fascinating. Galveston and College Station are two small/medium sized towns that were predominantly populated by descendants of Italians and Sicilians for many years. Those descendants have mixed with larger populations of Tejanos, Germans, Czechs and other immigrant groups, but you still see elements of that cultural association in olive groves, wineries, farms, etc. The perception of an Italian American doesn't come with just a New Jersey accent. It's also Texan!
Thanks for this beautiful and detailed comment. Just for to be specific: in terms of population Bari and its metropolitan area are much, much bigger than Florence. But i got what you meant: less turistic places
The idea that in the US downtowns are for poor people all the time is not necessarily true. In decaying cities like Detroit, this is true because the rich people want to escape that decay and move to the suburbs. However, in lively cities such as Chicago, New York and Miami, the city centers are, alongside suburbs, very much for the rich. While the suburbs in the US are very popular amongst the rich, not all rich Americans want to live in an endless maze of culdesacs and McMansions that are American suburbs. (LA is an exception to this rule and you are right that central LA is aweful, it really is. However it should be noted that LA is in active decline.)
Thanks for this comment that thought me a lot. In, general, you must admit, the idea is valid. But I have to say, you mention Miami for example, that with Gentrification things are changing
Oklahoma, Nebraska, or North Dakota? Oof that is a tough choice and im a Californian I guess i would say to look at what research is going on at the various universities you would be connected to and decide based on who is doing the research most relevant to what you are trying to get into. Although im sure people would be pissed at me since they came for information and i am basically giving them a task but if you are gonna move to a new continent you probably should do research anyway
My dear professor. I appreciate your attempt to explain the differences between US center cities and Italian city centers. However your tendency to generalize about US cities is sadly wrong. Have you ever visited US cities or spent any significant time in US cities? Most US cities are not as you have described them, especially as it pertains to Italian Americans. Take for example Philadelphia, so called birthplace of the US. So many of Italian decent and even Italian citizens live within the city limits as well as in the “suburbs” and the 3 surrounding and adjoining states. I now live in the extreme southern portion of New Jersey and it is overwhelmed with Italian Americans many of whom are trying to hold on to their heritage. While it’s true that decedents from other countries live here too, please don’t minimize the impact and legacy that Italian immigrants have had on the US. Thank you. Respectfully, Joseph.
Hi joseph, thank you for your educated comment! Honestly, this video was not specifically about Italianamericans. The point of view was actually the opposite. I was trying to to analyze the way Italians of Italy see the US. And that, for sure, is going to be a generalization.
I am an American from a Sicilian immigrant family that settled in San Diego, California. We have a wonderful close-knit Sicilian community in a beautiful city and climate, our community over all has done very well for itself. I'm also strongly still connected to Sicily, parent's home town, friends, relatives, family house, and I speak the dialect and Italian and travel quite frequently to Italy. Yes, many generalizations are made and unfortunately, we live in the age of social media where people see some negative images and listen to certain narratives and believe everything at face value and believe the entire country is like what they see and hear. I'm not denying the problems we are facing, many that have crept up on us recently but don't think Europe isn't facing their own problems. Since I understand Italian, I read some of the comments made by Italians about those of us that emigrated, I can only speak for my family and community, we do not regret any of it. I loved growing up in San Diego in our wonderful Sicilian community and having a great relationship with my family in Sicily and would never change it for anything. We visit them and they visit us. I also absolutely love Sicily and all of Italy with all its beauty and antiquity and their problems as well. Of course you can show negative images of the homeless in some of our cities but have they ever shown images of the problems like massive unemployment, the mountains of trash and graffiti that plague many of the cities of Southern Italy? It's a two way street.
@@petera618 outstanding commentary. I have the same sentiments about my lineage from Abruzzo and Calabria and my grandparents who emigrated to Philadelphia. I have visited with Abruzzo family members many times and they with me as well. And we have watched one another’s children grow up into accomplished adults. Even our children keep in touch via Facebook, etc. All cities have their share of economic and social challenges and Italy and the US on the whole do similarly.
Because if you are watching my videos, you are probably an high income, highly educated person. So you do not represent the majority of the Italian population,
@@HowtoItaly-2004 I never considered myself as highly educated but maybe it's true that i don't represent the average italian. But, excluding the lowest educated range of people Who has a poor vision of the world, the majority of italians has a even vague idea about Southern states (and its concerns with racism), the Midwest, Texas and desertic areas of new Mexico, Nevada and California and the differences among all those populations. Yes. It's a vague idea but most of italians knows that Albuquerque or Anchorage are as far different than NYC or LA. And that's because for TV shows and Hollywood films. That's my experience about people that I normally hang out with. Italians are less concerned to standardize people because they know how a Neapolitan and a Milanese can be different. Probably more different than a new Yorker and a Los Angeles people are.( Is there a Word to name a person coming from La ?)
This couldn’t be more true. My dear friend and tutor from Calabria had no idea just how big the US is. She was so shocked to find out how much we pay for health care. She was shocked to find out about homelessness. It’s interesting to grow up American Italian as I had the influence of my Italian heritage and culture my whole life but people in the US have misconceptions about Italians / American Italians. I can’t not count how many times people asked me if my father was mafia. It’s all Hollywood influence.
Dear Professor Coniglio. Is it permissible to intertwine Italian geography with some of the events leading up to and during WW-2? Would you be willing to share your thoughts or understanding of which regions of Italy were pro Mussolini or Nazi and which were not? I remember my Italian ancestors bragging about how Mussolini was good for Italy for things like “making the trains run on time” or how he was a great emperor because he invaded Ethiopia (but lost). I only recently learned about an Italian POW camp located in Provincia de Chieti in Abruzzo where allied soldiers fighting against Mussolini ‘s army were sentenced and brutally treated. Campo 21 is said to be that camp. In his book, An extraordinary Italian Imprisonment, author Brian Lett tells some of the stories about the atrocities against allied soldiers and Jews who were imprisoned there. Many of these atrocities were carried out by the pro fascist first commandant. But yet, it’s not talked about not even by my Italian relatives going back 2 generations and all living in Chieti as if it didn’t exist. I was hoping that you might tie Italian regional geography with the leanings of the people be it pro or against Mussolini or fascism. I hope this is not too sensitive of a subject. Thank you, Joseph.
I am not answering for Prof. Luca, but I think you should also read the book "Rossano" by Major Gordon Lett, Brian's father, which describes his personal experience with the Italian Partisans in the La Spezia area following his own escape from an Italian prison camp. His general opinion of Italy and Italians is very positive. As far as I know, it is not possible to establish which regions were more pro-Mussolini and which less. Free elections, which would have answered your question, were not held.
@@FrancescoRossi-q4s thankyou Francesco. I’ve heard a lot about the Italian resistance fighters particularly from a gentleman in my family, Mr Guido F who from and fought as a partisan in Ortona. The Italians and the Canadian soldiers there to rid the Nazis suffered greatly during the battle of Ortona. The tragedy that occurred in the Basilica of Saint Tommaso and its environs was horrific. Canadian soldiers were lined up against the walls and machine gunned to death. I saw the remains of the bullet pocked marks where the soldiers were killed.
@@JD987abc In addition to the book by Gordon Lett, which describes his own experience, from his escape to the immediate post-war period when he was involved in local government on behalf of the Allied command, I can recommend these books by Malcolm Tudor (an Anglo-Italian like me, although he identifies more with his British side and lives in Wales, while I identify more with my Italian side and live in Lombardy). ;-) // The titles of his books are: "Mussolini, the Last 10 Days", "British Prisoners of War in Italy" but this would also give information relevant to US military personnel, "At War in Italy 1943-1945", "Escape from Italy", "SAS in Italy 1943-1945", and "Among the Italian Partisans". // Malcolm Tudor's father was a British soldier who experienced all these events personally. // I don't want to say more because Prof. Luca will probably come back to these topics in his own way. They are delicate because people have different opinions, but in Italy we are quite free to express our opinions on Mussolini, Fascism, World War II, etc. It is still legally forbidden to "reconstitute" the Fascist party, but some people come very close. However, the vast majority of Italians are not and probably never have been fascists, even during the dictatorship, which ended on 25 July 1943, although, for political reasons, the armistice with the Allies was only concluded on 8 September 1943. // Lastly, I should add that the Italian armed forces that remained loyal to the (Badoglio) government of the King, in the South, actually fought on the side of the allies, I think under British command as they wore British style helmets, parallel to the Partisans in the North. // As part of my family is in Brazil, I would like to mention the 30 thousand strong Brazilian Expeditionary Force (Força Expedicionária Brasileira FEB), based in Pistoia, which replaced an American Division transferred to France, and fought alongside a US Division, consisting of "persons of color", on the Gothic Line. The Brazilians, who wore US style uniforms, actually accepted the surrender of a large mixed Nazi and Fascist force at Fornovo. It is said that the German commander said: "I am honored to surrender to the Army of the United States", to which the Brazilian officer answered: "Não Senhor, this is Army of the United States of ... Brazil".
@@FrancescoRossi-q4s thank you very much for the valuable information. Regrettably, we never hear about this as italian Americans and I doubt that my relatives in Abruzzo have learned about it either. Please keep well and thank you. Joseph.
@@JD987abc Yes, I think Prof. Luca is trying to provide information to both sides. Present-day Italy has its problems, but which country doesn't? And, historically, the process of Italian unity has been quite successful, compared for example with that of our eastern neighbor, Yugoslavia, for example, which no longer exists.
Mmmm. First Professor and with respect, in America, geography is widely known as one of our weakest subjects and I have to imagine Italian's generally get a better education, at least I hope so. That US map you showed with the big empty vortex in the center is mostly MAGA territory, and isn't just cornstalks and cow's but a lot of amazingly beautiful places, some with super nice beaches on the shores of a lake. The only thing that makes it desolate is the MAGA. And since you mention it, American's similar influence by TV is evident there since many of them think Trump is a wonderful business man purely from his decade on the TV show, The Apprentice (see article below). I grew up on the East Coast (Pittsburgh, PA) and we learned about Trump's slumlord and failed business tactics at an early age. So, many are duped here as well, since they aren't traveling or watching anything other than FOX or NewsNation. (Wasn't Silvio Berlusconi a propagator of falsehoods like Trump but who actually owned "fake news" stations?) And sadly most American's, unless well traveled, got our image of Italian's from movies too, like The Godfather and Martin Scorsese and Italian small towns from Equalizer 3. So while many Italian's tend to get much wrong about the demographics and lifestyles of 'burbs and city centers here, American's are much worse. I would really love to hear, as a future video concept, what Italian's in the metropolitan area of Rome think of the United States wildest election ever and please don't take too long if you do that one. I think everyone here is holding their breath.... www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-apprentice-business-success-apology-b2631389.html
I am neither Republican or Democrat so as an Independent I call out corruption on both sides. You can go on a rant against MAGA people and point out the faults of conservatives but please don't give the false impression that liberal Leftists are saints. The decay of the American city are mostly in blue states.Open borders, giving illegal people benefits on American people's tax money, soft on crime, vilifying the police and ignoring law and order. Allowing criminals to ransack retailer's shops with no repercussions are things that are enabled by the Democrat party. Sorry.
Everyone - at least those who follow the news - is holding their breath here (Europe) too. ;-) The Ukrainians in particular. (This community in Italy has grown sharply and there is even a News cast in Ukrainian on the Italian TV). Silvio Berlusconi was much more sophisticated than Trump, even in his relations with women. ;-) The political party he founded has surprisingly survived and it is now the most "centrist" ie. reasonable party of the Italian Right. His TV "Empire" has also survived and is now intelligently run by his son Pier Silvio and daughter Marina. It is in some ways less servile to the present government than the public RAI ("Telemeloni"). Last comment: someone commented recently here that Trump's bark is much worse than his bite and that, during his presidency, he actually achieved very little of what he had promised to his electors. Someone also mentioned that, given his age, we should learn more about J.D. Vance.
@@FrancescoRossi-q4s his next bark may be different if Trump is allowed back in the White House. You have heard of Project 2025? He defends his input or interest in the Heritage Foundation plan but at the same time, professes the same plots to tear away at the institutions that held solid against his first Presidency. Along with his majority appointed Supreme Court, things could get very weird here in America if he's re-elected. Thanks for sharing details on Berlusconi. I'll have to research that info and will...although skeptical since I heard some contrary things about his history in my limited news sources. I know Giorgia Meloni is intent on supporting Ukraine and only hope she continues. She did just have a gala night hosted by Elon Musk who is one of Trump's newest and richest sycophants. Thanks for sharing your thoughts again Francesco!
Don't be silly, now. Two and a half minutes of a funny introduction is a good start; plus it leads the viewer to a more in person perception of their relation with professor Luca. As much as your time could be worth, two and a half minutes is exactly nothing, and you wasted far more than that by writing this intolerant useless comment. A big hug from Italy!
your view of american demographics needs some depth- In the coastal west (california, oregon, washington) people of white european descent are the largest minority, no longer the majority. People of east asian descent (chinese, japanese, korean, vietnamese) are a large minority. People of south asian (indian, pakistani, etc) descent are another significant minority- particularly in silicon valley and seattle. Another point is that italian migration to California came from the north- Lucca, Genoa, and they made a big contribution to California agriculture- our best vineyards were planted by Italian immigrants (and some Croatians, Czechs, French, Basques). African Americans migrated from the southern states. California is at its best when people from different backgrounds collaborate.
Concerning California: (1) "In the city of Santa Cruz, between the end of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, a large number of Italian sailors and fishermen from Riva Trigoso, a hamlet of Sestri Levante, in Liguria, settled. The Riva people who emigrated to America, with their experience, made the fishing activity flourish; in Santa Cruz, many people still live today with surnames common in the Riva Trigoso area and the Riva dialect is spoken, sometimes even with terms no longer used in Liguria. On August 15, 2004, a city street was named after the Ligurian town, Riva Trigoso Street, in memory of the bond between these two communities". Italian Wiki This town, erroneously renamed San Paulo (it should have been San Pablo), was the location of the Clint Eastwood film "Sudden Impact". (2) Italians in Italy know little about a famous mayor of San Francisco Angelo Joseph Rossi. (3) In the Italian-language Wikipedia there is an interesting article on "Ticinese emigration to California". The Ticinese are culturally just as much Italian as people from the neighbouring Italian provinces. They were particularly noted as producers of "Swiss dairy products" and also wine. In other words, they continued to work in agriculture, using the techniques they used in Ticino.
From Italy, Hi Alan. The "Hispanic" category is really strange, in the sense that it differs from the black/white classification or even the geographical Asian category. // For example, if Martin Sheen used his real name, Ramón Esteves, how would he be classified? [He explains why he didn't use his real name in a readily available video]. His dark-haired son Charley Sheen would, I assume, be classified as "white", while the other light-haired son, Emilio Esteves, would be classified as Hispanic. OK, they are not Latin Americans, but of European Spanish descent (from my wife's region of Galicia), but so are the Cuban Castro family who would be classified on entry into the USA as Hispanic I suppose. // Someone from Spain complained recently that, on entering the United States, she was classified as "Hispanic", because of her name, rather than as "European". I suppose that wouldn't happen to (Princess) Leonor de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Ortiz. All very strange. 😉 PS. Two other cases worthy of mention: Ted Cruz, whose family came from the Canary Islands: white or Hispanic? And Margarita Carmen Cansino = Rita Hayworth ...
@@FrancescoRossi-q4s there’s been plenty of discussion about how immigrants to the US assimilate, and become ‘white’ - the first and sometimes second generations of european immigrants were treated as an underclass, and found different paths to ‘whiteness’ - depending on how they found political power, and how quickly they embraced the English language. The broad ‘hispanic’ label flattens the diversity of people who come from places that were part of the Spanish empire. There are Americans with Spanish names whose families were in the west before the USA arrived- in all other ways, they’re ’white’- there are Philippinos with Spanish names, indigenous and mestizo people from Central America with Spanish names. Old racial categories don’t make sense
@@alanboucek Interesting. I lived on and off in the US (Upstate NY) for 3 years at the beginning of the 1980s and for 3 months in 2008 (SE Florida), so I came in contact with three groups: Italian Americans, Hispanics (because my wife is Spanish and we normally speak in Spanish, so we inevitably made contact with other Spanish speakers, including my colleagues from Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Cuba), and "Americans" including some people who belonged to the Iroquois nation, I don't remember which branch, but they physically looked "Italian", I mean if they didn't tell me, I could have identified them as Sicilian or Calabrians or Neapolitans, which were the largest groups where I was (Monroe County). The only difference is that these Native Americans were ALL dark, while among the Italian Americans people came in all shades: some could be French and some could be Greek, let's say. // In SW Florida, we stayed with my Mexican ex-colleague and they mainly moved within the Hispanic community, mainly Cubans, because her wealthy husband (Tony) was Cuban. He was fascinated by the Italian language, which we spoke with our 10 year old grandson who came with us: "Andiamo veloce", "Mi piace tanto", etc. This was because while he could understand most of what we were saying, some words are tricky, eg. "ladro" which means "thief" in Italian and "I bark" in Spanish. We also watched some Italian films with them, from Benigni to Carlo Verdone (Iris Blonde), in which a girl In a Brussels fast food restaurant says "We can identify Italians easily, because you eat bread with everything". ;-)
Buona sera prof, io sono stata solo a New York 30 anni fa, quando gli Usa erano il sogno italiano. Sono tornata profondamente turbata, ero molto giovane, ma, gia allora avevo capito che non si stava cosi bene laggiu e che le cose non erano proprio come le immaginavamo. Ora, vedendo tanti canali TH-cam americani e italiani che parlano degli Usa, mi sto rendendo sempre piu conto del sogno infranto della mia generazione e di quanto poco sappiamo di quel paese. Non oso immaginare cosa devono aver provato gli immigrati .
Grazie per la sua opera di divulgazione. Sto iniziando a comprendere meglio un altro paese e un altra cultura.
grazie per questo bellissimo commento!
Iscriviti!
youtube.com/@HowtoItaly-2004?_confirmation=1
The most desirable areas to live were always toward the center of the city or within city limits until the 1960s when government subsidized housing (section 8) re-settled residents from other states to areas where a car is less needed: close to the city centers. You can see @8:47 are the enormous homes where commonly 3 generations of European descended families lived in during the first half of the 20th century.
Americans too have a social need to be near their neighbors, stores, trains, & schools but the re-settlement program lead to the residents taking their wealth to the suburbs and beyond where you have to drive to get a pack of gum. Soldiers returning form WWII bought houses in the newly created suburbs simply because they weren't wealthy enough to purchase a home closer to the conveniences of the city. My mother never had any intention of driving a car until our father moved us to the suburbs.
This is very interesting. Thank you so much. I was aware of the fact that, originally, those neighborhoods in Detroit that i show in the video were for affluent video who worked in the Automotive industry. And now the situation is very different.
Thank you for this video. It is both enjoyable and educational.
Thank you for watching it! Do not forget to subsribeyoutube.com/@HowtoItaly-2004?_confirmation=1
From Lombardy, excellent as always. I wanted to mention a similarity between rural America and Italy that is not widely known. The US road grid system is inspired by Roman Centuriation. I worked for some time in “Upstate NY” and had to drive to work using this grid system, which was easy because it is so regular. Where I live in Bergamo province, as in other parts of Italy, there are still extensive remains of the Ancient Roman Centuriation system, and in many ways it is similar to that I used in the US. See the Wikipedia articles on Centuriation in English and Italian (to which I contributed with a photo I took with my green Opel Agila car of a dead straight road near where I live ;-) ). Second point: Hispanics. In Upstate NY, I had a Mexican colleague of European origin who, many years later invited me and my family to spend a few months with her and her Cuban husband in South-East Florida. My wife is Spanish from Galicia in the North-West and she has blonde hair and blue eyes, so she is not stereotypically Spanish, like Penelope Cruz, just as our Mexican friend, also blonde with blue eyes, is not stereotypically Mexican. I must say that for most of the three months we spoke more Spanish than English, particularly in the Calle Ocho district of Miami. Also, as Cuba was Spanish until 1898, my wife was able to establish contact easily with the Cubans, as many of them have close Spanish relatives, even from Galicia (like the Castro family). I also went to an “Italian” restaurant in Florida, but the least said the better, starting from “carbonara” with cream, etc. 😉
You absolutely right about the fact that the Centuriation System in the US is inspired by rthe roman system in fact, if you see the ruins of ancient Roman cities, the they are all squared.
Interesting…as usual! Thanks Prof!! 👏🏻
My pleasure!
Great video! As an American living in Italy much of what you've said rings true to what Italians ask me about America. BTW, they updated the US 2020 census and now English is the highest self-reported European ancestry in America with about 46 million and then German and Irish coming in 2nd and 3rd. In 1980 it was around 49 million and later ones it dropped for various reasons and went as low as 26 million if I remember correctly but it was always considered a severe under-count. One reason is possibly because they included American as an ethnicity in the 1990's and those who previously reported English switched to American.
Thank you for your comment and updates!
You are definitely correct about Italian people's knowledge of geography. I moved here from the USA and the first thing people usually ask me is which state? And when I say North Carolina, most people just say, "boh, I don't know that one." Lol. I also lived in five other states and most people don't know any of them either, except of course, California.
You described the reality
there’s a misconception about American cities- it has changed in recent years- in the most affluent older American cities, like New York, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, central neighborhoods are the most affluent- similar to European cities. In younger cities that were built around the automobile, affluent residential areas are outside the business core. Los Angeles is a bit of an exception- because it’s really a large collection of smaller cities. Younger generations are much more interested in living in cities, where their parents and grandparents wanted to live in leafy suburbs.
You are absolutely right. You are describing GENTRIFICATION. But it is a phenomenon of the last 15, 20 years.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 no, not gentrification, a reversal of the subsidized emptying of our urban cores under the guise of urban renewal and subsidized mortgages for new houses in auto dependent suburbs.
@@alanboucek I never went west of Niagara Falls, so I have no first-hand knowledge of California, where my Mexican ex-colleague now lives in Marin County, so maybe someday I will see San Francisco. ;-) As far as I know, the cities founded by the Spanish Franciscans were built around missions, mostly with Saints' names, from San Diego to San Francisco, right?
In Spanish America, instead, many cities were built like the cities of the Ancient Romans, a model with which they were familiar with in Spain itself and which is also frequent, as Prof. Luca said, also in Italy. So, you have a central square with the largest church and the largest civil administration building and the palaces of leading families. Examples: The original colonial plans of Bogotá, Quito, Lima, Mexico and Buenos Aires.
Another curious personal experience, the plan of the old part of the city where I live, Treviglio (Tres Villae), in Lombardy, is almost identical to that of Airx-en -Provence (Aquae Sextiae), so when I went there with my family we agreed on meeting places saying things like: "We''ll meet at 5 o'clock in the location of Raffi's father's barber shop", on the "circonvallazione interna" (internal ring road). ;-)
Buona sera, professore. Generally, you are correct about the suburbs in America. Starting in the 1960's, violent crime became a concern in the large cities. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April of 1968, there was a lot of violence in the large cities that pushed many white folks to move to the suburbs. There, they could own a larger home with a backyard, but the move to the suburbs was also very much motivated by a concern for safety. I think your students would be surprised to learn that the public square (piazza) is rare in the U.S. In most towns or cities, there isn't a piazza where people go to meet up with friends. There is also no tradition of the passeggiata (walking for social reasons before and after a meal) here. People definitely walk a lot more in New York City because owning a car isn't practical there, but Americans are not as social as Italians (in Italy), in my opinion, and part of the reason for that is because so many towns and cities in America are designed strictly for the automobile. I grew up in the Washington, D.C. area which includes several counties in Maryland and Virginia that border the District of Columbia. Italians might be surprised to learn that far more people live in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs of D.C. than in D.C. itself. I used to commute into D.C. from Virginia via a train every day, and it took me more than an hour each way. Lastly, I was corresponding once with an employee of the Italian law firm that is helping me to get Italian citizenship, and she told me that she watches very little Italian TV or movies. She said she thought American movies and TV were much better. That made me laugh because some American films and shows are very good, but there are also a lot that are bad. I am currently watching a lot of Italian TV and movies to help me learn the language. Among my favorites, so far, are Mare Fuori (The Sea Beyond), L'amica geniale (My Brilliant Friend), and Don Matteo. Don't laugh. I know those shows could not be more distinct, but I've enjoyed all of them. Don Matteo reminds me of a lot of American TV shows from the '70's and '80's. I know it debuted about 25 years ago, but it must have been popular because it ran for 13 seasons. I would be curious to hear about your favorite American movies and TV shows. Grazie, e buon fine settimana.
Io ricordo che da bambina mi piacevano I Jefferson, Arnold, poi I Robinson, Will il principe di Bel Air, Remington Steele, Mac Gyver, Giudice di notte, Sledge Hammer, Friends, Buffy l'ammazzavampiri, ... Le mamme nei primi anni '80 erano appassionate di Dallas (ammiravano soprattutto i vestiti). 😂
@@danilacld3448 MacGyver was also one of my favorite series from the 1980s! One of the things that makes me sad about American TV today is how few situation comedies (sitcoms) are being made today compared to the past. There used to be so many, and now there are so few. I'm also not sure why this genre has completely disappeared from American TV. The Jeffersons was a spinoff of All in the Family (another great series). The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was where we were first introduced to actor Will Smith. When you said "The Night Judge," I think you were referring to "Night Court," and Friends was very popular during the '90s. Seinfeld and the Big Bang Theory are two of my all-time favorite sitcoms, and Breaking Bad is probably the greatest drama TV series of all time (for me). Many people put the Sopranos near the top of the list for best series, but I thought Breaking Bad was even better.
There are many american tv series i love. I do not know where to start.
Maybe Sopranos, an immense TV series that in Italy NO ONE knows
@@HowtoItaly-2004 No one knows The Sopranos in Italy?! Incredible. No other TV show in the US for the last 30 years has had the cultural impact that The Sopranos did. Maybe The Simpsons comes close, but still.
Grande prof!
grandissimo!
Just a note that in Britain we distinguish between city centre living which is wildly expensive and inner city areas which are poor and run down. Would that be the case in America as well?
I think now it is very similar with Gentrification.
Yes, in US it is similar. In San Francisco, it is all about the neighborhood. City Center here would mean the area on Van Ness Avenue where there is City Hall, the Symphony, Opera, Asian Art Museum, and so forth. And it abuts the Tenderloin, which would be considered Inner City. I remember meeting an Italian visitor and I wondered why he chose to stay in such a sketchy part of the city (near City Center and ghettos). I was just asking a friend’s husband about where to stay in Naples, Italy and he told me City Center, and my first reaction is “OK, City Center, huh, let me research this” cuz it is backwards!
@@Bangle1008 i think SF has a very particular layout that cannot be used as an example for general
American cities
@@HowtoItaly-2004Layout is different, but characteristics are similar with the different phases or American socio-economic/political life. Not a great time for US cities right now. A lot of vacant office buildings, many shops and restaurants have closed. CA always seems to have a lot of boom and bust cycles. If you want a fascinating bit of West Coast history, look into the Rosie the Riverter era here in the SF Bay. Women, African Americans, and other minorities were attracted with good pay and opportunities to build the Liberty Ships of WW2.
I am an American and I disagree with some of the comments here, especially the overtly political ones that express an incomplete and biased view of certain political figures. If the point is that Italian impressions are often wrong, there are better examples than opinions of our politicians, but the US has become quite politicized by some, esp those who favor large and powerful government. Most people in most countries understand their own countries very little, let alone other countries. Still good to try and I enjoy the content here.
JJD, sorry, maybe my english is not so good. Are you referring to me or to the comments_ because in my videos I did not mention any politician.
Dear Professor Coniglio, The great physicist Enrico Fermi is celebrated in the US as an important member of the Manhattan Project as well as for his discoveries in nuclear physics. And obviously the FermiLab has been named in his honor. People in the US who might be interested in science know his importance as an Italian Immigrant who escaped from the Nazis to the US and become a US citizen. I am curious about how Italians regard him. Is he claimed as an Italian or someone who relinquished his citizenship? Id be interested in your thoughts. Thank you. Joseph.
he is mention in high school, but in my country he is not as famous as he would deserve.
Thanks for the comment
@@HowtoItaly-2004 thank you for your quick response. Too bad Italian students aren’t taught the importance of men like Fermi. Please take care and have a wonderful day.
@@JD987abc do not forget to subscribe!
@@HowtoItaly-2004 indeed I have. Thank you.
When I was in college, many of the exchange students I knew would buy used cars so they could travel around the US for the summer after their school year in an American university. I thought this was a great idea. These smart ones knew that the big cities were not where culture originates, it is where it coalesces. The heart of a nation is revealed in nuanced ways in small towns and medium sized cities. The only way to really engage in understanding that is to go there and be there. That is why when I bring my family to Italy in the near future, we are not going to focus on the big Italian cities. I want them to experience the villages and "smaller" cities like Bari. It will be completely alien territory to us. We only know Italy by the big cities like Rome and Florence. That's what I want to avoid.
On the topic of Westerns and Spaghetti Westerns, as a Italian-American who is also a Texan, I find those stereotypes so funny. It is so far from the truth of the current Texan experience of living here. But one thing is true -- we are inspired by scale and size. We have the room to do things like convert a cattle ranch into a giraffe refuge (there are many here). That's the kind of thing that I think visiting Italians would be stunned by, among many other things. The Italian immigrant experience in Texas is also fascinating. Galveston and College Station are two small/medium sized towns that were predominantly populated by descendants of Italians and Sicilians for many years. Those descendants have mixed with larger populations of Tejanos, Germans, Czechs and other immigrant groups, but you still see elements of that cultural association in olive groves, wineries, farms, etc. The perception of an Italian American doesn't come with just a New Jersey accent. It's also Texan!
Thanks for this beautiful and detailed comment. Just for to be specific: in terms of population Bari and its metropolitan area are much, much bigger than Florence. But i got what you meant: less turistic places
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Thank you! That is very helpful to know! It is hard to find good information outside of the tourist centers of the country.
You did your homework which is why I love your channel. Also, has anyone ever told you that you look like “Volodymyr Zelensky”?
Everyone told me this. It is true. ahhahahaha
🟦🟨Вітання Президенту Луці (Luca) Зеленському! 🟦🟨
The idea that in the US downtowns are for poor people all the time is not necessarily true. In decaying cities like Detroit, this is true because the rich people want to escape that decay and move to the suburbs. However, in lively cities such as Chicago, New York and Miami, the city centers are, alongside suburbs, very much for the rich. While the suburbs in the US are very popular amongst the rich, not all rich Americans want to live in an endless maze of culdesacs and McMansions that are American suburbs. (LA is an exception to this rule and you are right that central LA is aweful, it really is. However it should be noted that LA is in active decline.)
Thanks for this comment that thought me a lot.
In, general, you must admit, the idea is valid. But I have to say, you mention Miami for example, that with Gentrification things are changing
amazing!
❤️
Oklahoma, Nebraska, or North Dakota? Oof that is a tough choice and im a Californian
I guess i would say to look at what research is going on at the various universities you would be connected to and decide based on who is doing the research most relevant to what you are trying to get into.
Although im sure people would be pissed at me since they came for information and i am basically giving them a task but if you are gonna move to a new continent you probably should do research anyway
Final someone from California! Stick around and watch the other videos!
My dear professor. I appreciate your attempt to explain the differences between US center cities and Italian city centers. However your tendency to generalize about US cities is sadly wrong. Have you ever visited US cities or spent any significant time in US cities? Most US cities are not as you have described them, especially as it pertains to Italian Americans. Take for example Philadelphia, so called birthplace of the US. So many of Italian decent and even Italian citizens live within the city limits as well as in the “suburbs” and the 3 surrounding and adjoining states. I now live in the extreme southern portion of New Jersey and it is overwhelmed with Italian Americans many of whom are trying to hold on to their heritage.
While it’s true that decedents from other countries live here too, please don’t minimize the impact and legacy that Italian immigrants have had on the US.
Thank you. Respectfully, Joseph.
Hi joseph, thank you for your educated comment!
Honestly, this video was not specifically about Italianamericans.
The point of view was actually the opposite. I was trying to to analyze the way Italians of Italy see the US. And that, for sure, is going to be a generalization.
@@HowtoItaly-2004ok. Thank you for your clarification. I always appreciate your videos. Respectfully…Joseph.
I am an American from a Sicilian immigrant family that settled in San Diego, California. We have a wonderful close-knit Sicilian community in a beautiful city and climate, our community over all has done very well for itself. I'm also strongly still connected to Sicily, parent's home town, friends, relatives, family house, and I speak the dialect and Italian and travel quite frequently to Italy.
Yes, many generalizations are made and unfortunately, we live in the age of social media where people see some negative images and listen to certain narratives and believe everything at face value and believe the entire country is like what they see and hear. I'm not denying the problems we are facing, many that have crept up on us recently but don't think Europe isn't facing their own problems. Since I understand Italian, I read some of the comments made by Italians about those of us that emigrated, I can only speak for my family and community, we do not regret any of it. I loved growing up in San Diego in our wonderful Sicilian community and having a great relationship with my family in Sicily and would never change it for anything. We visit them and they visit us. I also absolutely love Sicily and all of Italy with all its beauty and antiquity and their problems as well.
Of course you can show negative images of the homeless in some of our cities but have they ever shown images of the problems like massive unemployment, the mountains of trash and graffiti that plague many of the cities of Southern Italy? It's a two way street.
@@petera618 outstanding commentary. I have the same sentiments about my lineage from Abruzzo and Calabria and my grandparents who emigrated to Philadelphia. I have visited with Abruzzo family members many times and they with me as well. And we have watched one another’s children grow up into accomplished adults. Even our children keep in touch via Facebook, etc.
All cities have their share of economic and social challenges and Italy and the US on the whole do similarly.
@@JD987abc Agreed! It's been a great experience sort of belonging to two worlds.
I think you nailed it!
❤️
I don't agree about the fact that Italians think that usa Is California and New York, basing on my experience
Because if you are watching my videos, you are probably an high income, highly educated person. So you do not represent the majority of the Italian population,
@@HowtoItaly-2004 I never considered myself as highly educated but maybe it's true that i don't represent the average italian. But, excluding the lowest educated range of people Who has a poor vision of the world, the majority of italians has a even vague idea about Southern states (and its concerns with racism), the Midwest, Texas and desertic areas of new Mexico, Nevada and California and the differences among all those populations. Yes. It's a vague idea but most of italians knows that Albuquerque or Anchorage are as far different than NYC or LA. And that's because for TV shows and Hollywood films. That's my experience about people that I normally hang out with.
Italians are less concerned to standardize people because they know how a Neapolitan and a Milanese can be different. Probably more different than a new Yorker and a Los Angeles people are.( Is there a Word to name a person coming from La ?)
This couldn’t be more true. My dear friend and tutor from Calabria had no idea just how big the US is. She was so shocked to find out how much we pay for health care. She was shocked to find out about homelessness.
It’s interesting to grow up American Italian as I had the influence of my Italian heritage and culture my whole life but people in the US have misconceptions about Italians / American Italians. I can’t not count how many times people asked me if my father was mafia. It’s all Hollywood influence.
We have an incredibly strong Hollywood influence!
I like your boat
Excellent video. You may want to discuss gentrification.
I will. Thank you for the suggestion!
Do not forget to subscribe.
youtube.com/@HowtoItaly-2004?_confirmation=1
Dear Professor Coniglio. Is it permissible to intertwine Italian geography with some of the events leading up to and during WW-2?
Would you be willing to share your thoughts or understanding of which regions of Italy were pro Mussolini or Nazi and which were not? I remember my Italian ancestors bragging about how Mussolini was good for Italy for things like “making the trains run on time” or how he was a great emperor because he invaded Ethiopia (but lost).
I only recently learned about an Italian POW camp located in Provincia de Chieti in Abruzzo where allied soldiers fighting against Mussolini ‘s army were sentenced and brutally treated. Campo 21 is said to be that camp. In his book, An extraordinary Italian Imprisonment, author Brian Lett tells some of the stories about the atrocities against allied soldiers and Jews who were imprisoned there. Many of these atrocities were carried out by the pro fascist first commandant.
But yet, it’s not talked about not even by my Italian relatives going back 2 generations and all living in Chieti as if it didn’t exist.
I was hoping that you might tie Italian regional geography with the leanings of the people be it pro or against Mussolini or fascism. I hope this is not too sensitive of a subject.
Thank you, Joseph.
I am not answering for Prof. Luca, but I think you should also read the book "Rossano" by Major Gordon Lett, Brian's father, which describes his personal experience with the Italian Partisans in the La Spezia area following his own escape from an Italian prison camp. His general opinion of Italy and Italians is very positive. As far as I know, it is not possible to establish which regions were more pro-Mussolini and which less. Free elections, which would have answered your question, were not held.
@@FrancescoRossi-q4s thankyou Francesco. I’ve heard a lot about the Italian resistance fighters particularly from a gentleman in my family, Mr Guido F who from and fought as a partisan in Ortona. The Italians and the Canadian soldiers there to rid the Nazis suffered greatly during the battle of Ortona. The tragedy that occurred in the Basilica of Saint Tommaso and its environs was horrific. Canadian soldiers were lined up against the walls and machine gunned to death. I saw the remains of the bullet pocked marks where the soldiers were killed.
@@JD987abc In addition to the book by Gordon Lett, which describes his own experience, from his escape to the immediate post-war period when he was involved in local government on behalf of the Allied command, I can recommend these books by Malcolm Tudor (an Anglo-Italian like me, although he identifies more with his British side and lives in Wales, while I identify more with my Italian side and live in Lombardy). ;-) // The titles of his books are: "Mussolini, the Last 10 Days", "British Prisoners of War in Italy" but this would also give information relevant to US military personnel, "At War in Italy 1943-1945", "Escape from Italy", "SAS in Italy 1943-1945", and "Among the Italian Partisans". // Malcolm Tudor's father was a British soldier who experienced all these events personally. // I don't want to say more because Prof. Luca will probably come back to these topics in his own way. They are delicate because people have different opinions, but in Italy we are quite free to express our opinions on Mussolini, Fascism, World War II, etc. It is still legally forbidden to "reconstitute" the Fascist party, but some people come very close. However, the vast majority of Italians are not and probably never have been fascists, even during the dictatorship, which ended on 25 July 1943, although, for political reasons, the armistice with the Allies was only concluded on 8 September 1943. // Lastly, I should add that the Italian armed forces that remained loyal to the (Badoglio) government of the King, in the South, actually fought on the side of the allies, I think under British command as they wore British style helmets, parallel to the Partisans in the North. // As part of my family is in Brazil, I would like to mention the 30 thousand strong Brazilian Expeditionary Force (Força Expedicionária Brasileira FEB), based in Pistoia, which replaced an American Division transferred to France, and fought alongside a US Division, consisting of "persons of color", on the Gothic Line. The Brazilians, who wore US style uniforms, actually accepted the surrender of a large mixed Nazi and Fascist force at Fornovo. It is said that the German commander said: "I am honored to surrender to the Army of the United States", to which the Brazilian officer answered: "Não Senhor, this is Army of the United States of ... Brazil".
@@FrancescoRossi-q4s thank you very much for the valuable information. Regrettably, we never hear about this as italian Americans and I doubt that my relatives in Abruzzo have learned about it either.
Please keep well and thank you. Joseph.
@@JD987abc Yes, I think Prof. Luca is trying to provide information to both sides. Present-day Italy has its problems, but which country doesn't? And, historically, the process of Italian unity has been quite successful, compared for example with that of our eastern neighbor, Yugoslavia, for example, which no longer exists.
Mmmm. First Professor and with respect, in America, geography is widely known as one of our weakest subjects and I have to imagine Italian's generally get a better education, at least I hope so. That US map you showed with the big empty vortex in the center is mostly MAGA territory, and isn't just cornstalks and cow's but a lot of amazingly beautiful places, some with super nice beaches on the shores of a lake. The only thing that makes it desolate is the MAGA. And since you mention it, American's similar influence by TV is evident there since many of them think Trump is a wonderful business man purely from his decade on the TV show, The Apprentice (see article below). I grew up on the East Coast (Pittsburgh, PA) and we learned about Trump's slumlord and failed business tactics at an early age. So, many are duped here as well, since they aren't traveling or watching anything other than FOX or NewsNation. (Wasn't Silvio Berlusconi a propagator of falsehoods like Trump but who actually owned "fake news" stations?) And sadly most American's, unless well traveled, got our image of Italian's from movies too, like The Godfather and Martin Scorsese and Italian small towns from Equalizer 3. So while many Italian's tend to get much wrong about the demographics and lifestyles of 'burbs and city centers here, American's are much worse. I would really love to hear, as a future video concept, what Italian's in the metropolitan area of Rome think of the United States wildest election ever and please don't take too long if you do that one. I think everyone here is holding their breath....
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-apprentice-business-success-apology-b2631389.html
I am neither Republican or Democrat so as an Independent I call out corruption on both sides. You can go on a rant against MAGA people and point out the faults of conservatives but please don't give the false impression that liberal Leftists are saints. The decay of the American city are mostly in blue states.Open borders, giving illegal people benefits on American people's tax money, soft on crime, vilifying the police and ignoring law and order. Allowing criminals to ransack retailer's shops with no repercussions are things that are enabled by the Democrat party. Sorry.
Everyone - at least those who follow the news - is holding their breath here (Europe) too. ;-) The Ukrainians in particular. (This community in Italy has grown sharply and there is even a News cast in Ukrainian on the Italian TV). Silvio Berlusconi was much more sophisticated than Trump, even in his relations with women. ;-) The political party he founded has surprisingly survived and it is now the most "centrist" ie. reasonable party of the Italian Right. His TV "Empire" has also survived and is now intelligently run by his son Pier Silvio and daughter Marina. It is in some ways less servile to the present government than the public RAI ("Telemeloni"). Last comment: someone commented recently here that Trump's bark is much worse than his bite and that, during his presidency, he actually achieved very little of what he had promised to his electors. Someone also mentioned that, given his age, we should learn more about J.D. Vance.
@@FrancescoRossi-q4s his next bark may be different if Trump is allowed back in the White House. You have heard of Project 2025? He defends his input or interest in the Heritage Foundation plan but at the same time, professes the same plots to tear away at the institutions that held solid against his first Presidency. Along with his majority appointed Supreme Court, things could get very weird here in America if he's re-elected. Thanks for sharing details on Berlusconi. I'll have to research that info and will...although skeptical since I heard some contrary things about his history in my limited news sources. I know Giorgia Meloni is intent on supporting Ukraine and only hope she continues. She did just have a gala night hosted by Elon Musk who is one of Trump's newest and richest sycophants. Thanks for sharing your thoughts again Francesco!
Btw, why are you named after a rabbit, lol?
It is a common Last Name in certain parts of Italy
The first two and a half minutes of this can be skipped. Says nothing.
@@cbxxb4841 you are right. But I am a beginner. What about the rest?
@@HowtoItaly-2004the rest was fantastic! Keep growing and learning! I love your channel! All the way from Dayton Nevada! ❤
@@HowtoItaly-2004 The rest was good. Please consider the viewers time as valuable to them. Thanks
Wrong. It was funny and I enjoyed the story as a lead in to the topic.
Don't be silly, now. Two and a half minutes of a funny introduction is a good start; plus it leads the viewer to a more in person perception of their relation with professor Luca.
As much as your time could be worth, two and a half minutes is exactly nothing, and you wasted far more than that by writing this intolerant useless comment.
A big hug from Italy!
your view of american demographics needs some depth- In the coastal west (california, oregon, washington) people of white european descent are the largest minority, no longer the majority. People of east asian descent (chinese, japanese, korean, vietnamese) are a large minority. People of south asian (indian, pakistani, etc) descent are another significant minority- particularly in silicon valley and seattle. Another point is that italian migration to California came from the north- Lucca, Genoa, and they made a big contribution to California agriculture- our best vineyards were planted by Italian immigrants (and some Croatians, Czechs, French, Basques). African Americans migrated from the southern states. California is at its best when people from different backgrounds collaborate.
Concerning California: (1) "In the city of Santa Cruz, between the end of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, a large number of Italian sailors and fishermen from Riva Trigoso, a hamlet of Sestri Levante, in Liguria, settled. The Riva people who emigrated to America, with their experience, made the fishing activity flourish; in Santa Cruz, many people still live today with surnames common in the Riva Trigoso area and the Riva dialect is spoken, sometimes even with terms no longer used in Liguria. On August 15, 2004, a city street was named after the Ligurian town, Riva Trigoso Street, in memory of the bond between these two communities". Italian Wiki This town, erroneously renamed San Paulo (it should have been San Pablo), was the location of the Clint Eastwood film "Sudden Impact". (2) Italians in Italy know little about a famous mayor of San Francisco Angelo Joseph Rossi. (3) In the Italian-language Wikipedia there is an interesting article on "Ticinese emigration to California". The Ticinese are culturally just as much Italian as people from the neighbouring Italian provinces. They were particularly noted as producers of "Swiss dairy products" and also wine. In other words, they continued to work in agriculture, using the techniques they used in Ticino.
Dear Francesco, actually many of the things that you are describing are part of my PHD thesis. Great Story!
From Italy, Hi Alan. The "Hispanic" category is really strange, in the sense that it differs from the black/white classification or even the geographical Asian category. // For example, if Martin Sheen used his real name, Ramón Esteves, how would he be classified? [He explains why he didn't use his real name in a readily available video]. His dark-haired son Charley Sheen would, I assume, be classified as "white", while the other light-haired son, Emilio Esteves, would be classified as Hispanic. OK, they are not Latin Americans, but of European Spanish descent (from my wife's region of Galicia), but so are the Cuban Castro family who would be classified on entry into the USA as Hispanic I suppose. // Someone from Spain complained recently that, on entering the United States, she was classified as "Hispanic", because of her name, rather than as "European". I suppose that wouldn't happen to (Princess) Leonor de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Ortiz. All very strange. 😉 PS. Two other cases worthy of mention: Ted Cruz, whose family came from the Canary Islands: white or Hispanic? And Margarita Carmen Cansino = Rita Hayworth ...
@@FrancescoRossi-q4s there’s been plenty of discussion about how immigrants to the US assimilate, and become ‘white’ - the first and sometimes second generations of european immigrants were treated as an underclass, and found different paths to ‘whiteness’ - depending on how they found political power, and how quickly they embraced the English language. The broad ‘hispanic’ label flattens the diversity of people who come from places that were part of the Spanish empire. There are Americans with Spanish names whose families were in the west before the USA arrived- in all other ways, they’re ’white’- there are Philippinos with Spanish names, indigenous and mestizo people from Central America with Spanish names. Old racial categories don’t make sense
@@alanboucek Interesting. I lived on and off in the US (Upstate NY) for 3 years at the beginning of the 1980s and for 3 months in 2008 (SE Florida), so I came in contact with three groups: Italian Americans, Hispanics (because my wife is Spanish and we normally speak in Spanish, so we inevitably made contact with other Spanish speakers, including my colleagues from Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Cuba), and "Americans" including some people who belonged to the Iroquois nation, I don't remember which branch, but they physically looked "Italian", I mean if they didn't tell me, I could have identified them as Sicilian or Calabrians or Neapolitans, which were the largest groups where I was (Monroe County). The only difference is that these Native Americans were ALL dark, while among the Italian Americans people came in all shades: some could be French and some could be Greek, let's say. // In SW Florida, we stayed with my Mexican ex-colleague and they mainly moved within the Hispanic community, mainly Cubans, because her wealthy husband (Tony) was Cuban. He was fascinated by the Italian language, which we spoke with our 10 year old grandson who came with us: "Andiamo veloce", "Mi piace tanto", etc. This was because while he could understand most of what we were saying, some words are tricky, eg. "ladro" which means "thief" in Italian and "I bark" in Spanish. We also watched some Italian films with them, from Benigni to Carlo Verdone (Iris Blonde), in which a girl In a Brussels fast food restaurant says "We can identify Italians easily, because you eat bread with everything". ;-)
american here that map is on point
❤️